Americana museum welcomes new order

MURFREESBORO

The Brady C. Jefcoat Museum, which opened in 1997 and now boasts more than 13,000 items on display, is ringing in the New Year with two new buildings and a new director.

The 85-year-old former Murfreesboro High School has housed the collection of Americana for more than a decade. Now, the school's old agricultural education and home economics buildings are a part of the museum's landscape, holding some of the newer artifacts.

The museum boasts a huge collection, including washing machines, irons, butter churns, music boxes and phonographs.

Brinson Paul retired as director Dec. 31. Colon Ballance, a Jacksonville, N.C., native who taught history in schools there, stepped in.

Knowing Ballance's background - he has a bachelor of science degree in education from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee and a passion for history - members of the Murfreesboro Historical Association, which owns the building and adjoining property, approached him about the Jefcoat job.

A quick decision was a necessity because Paul had tried to resign two years ago, but it didn't happen.

"I quit and they gave me a magnificent send off," Paul said, "but they couldn't find anyone to replace me. Anyway, I missed the place, but there will be no second retirement party."

Paul will do some work as a volunteer, but there is also work to do at home.

"The old job tied me down," he said. "Now, I have that monkey off my back, so I'll do some gardening and painting and traveling. "

His children and grandchildren live in Seattle and Dallas.

Paul also will be doing some writing.

"I'm going to write a history book about the museum," he said. "I've been making notes and collecting material. The target date is the end of the year."

The beginning of this year marked a new beginning for Ballance, who has been working as a volunteer with his predecessor since October.

His first impression of the museum was similar to that of visitors seeing it for the first time.

"I was astounded," he said. "This place is hard to believe - and it's hard to believe that one man collected everything here."

Brady C. Jefcoat of Raleigh was impressed with Murfreesboro after a visit and vowed to donate his vast collection to the town - a collection sought by the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum of Raleigh. Both museums wanted to put part of the collection in storage, Paul said, but Jefcoat wanted everything out front.

Paul and volunteers have made trips to his home for more items of interest.

New items from other sources are now on display, allowable since they are not in the main building.

They are in the school's old home economics and agricultural education buildings. T he Russian items in the home economics building were donated by Bea and Harold Simmons of Washington, N.C.

"They visited Russia 14 times and fell in love with the Russian nesting dolls. We have more than 2,000," Paul said. "A very small one goes into a larger one, then into a larger one, and so on, until they all wind up in the mother doll... Usually, there are about 11 of them together."

The outside paintings represent religion or fairy tales.

Also in the Russian collection are painted eggs and lacquered boxes.

The home economics building also boasts 250 antique oil lamps, four cabinets of cut glass and Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, including a five-legged stool reportedly used by Mary Todd Lincoln.

"I've been working on that building for five years," Paul said.

Getting it straight, Ballance added, "is my first order of business."

The old agricultural education building, which also serves as the museum workshop, features more than 100 Indian arrowheads, working tools and tomahawk heads from the Meherrin Indians of the Roanoke-Chowan area, a collection donated by Richard Hoggard of Ahoskie.

Ballance is attempting to catch up with Paul, who is able to describe almost all of the items on display, their history, their approximate age and their place of origin.

Paul, however, has had 14 years to learn. He spent the first four years raising money and acquiring the property.

Some of the operational money is raised at the annual Roanoke-Chowan Pork Fest, hosted by the museum, which has had more than 22,500 visitors since opening in 1997.

"We've had at least one visitor from every inhabited continent," Paul said.

The former director will not be spending too much time at the museum, although his heart will always be there.

"This place shows what the human mind could do when, unlike today, people had very little to work with," he said. "I'm going to miss it, but I'm leaving it in good hands."